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Duke-UNC rivalry almost always delivers, but it didn’t this time … not that we should be surprised
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DURHAM, N.C. – As rivalries go, Duke-North Carolina basketball almost always delivers.
With an emphasis on almost.
Because even in a matchup so balanced that each team had scored exactly the same number of points in regulation play (1,099) over their past 14 meetings at Cameron Indoor Stadium before Saturday, there’s bound to be an outlier.
And this was it.
As lopsided as the final 87-70 margin looks in print, it was much worse in actuality. The second-ranked Blue Devils never trailed and built their lead to as many as 32 with 9 minutes remaining before taking their foot off the accelerator on the way to extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 15.
It was a result that confirmed the obvious. That these are 2 teams passing in the night, headed in opposite directions toward vastly different destinations.
But let’s be honest. The result didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know about either of the rivals.
We didn’t need Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and their Duke teammates toying with the Tar Heels as if they were a pickup team from the local Y to drive home the reality that the Blue Devils have Final Four potential. And that UNC will almost certainly be watching the NCAA Tournament on TV.
You could see it coming early. Even earlier than the 16-0 run that broke UNC’s spirit and nearly broke any noise meters that might have been courtside measuring the decibel level at Duke’s cozy gym.
The wheels responsible for producing the Blue Devils’ convincing victory were put into motion before the season ever began in the way opposing coaches Jon Scheyer and Hubert Davis constructed their rosters.
It’s not a matter of talent.
Though Duke does have an embarrassment of riches in its freshman core of Flagg and Kneuppel, who combined for 43 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists against the Tar Heels, to go along with 7-foot-2 Khaman Maluach, it’s not as if UNC is devoid of talent.
RJ Davis was the ACC Player of the Year last season. Elliot Cadeau was a 5-star recruit. Ian Jackson was a McDonald’s All-American ranked among the top 10 in his class.
The difference is that Scheyer built a diverse, balanced team around his 3 soon-to-be first-round NBA Draft picks and returners Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster, one with quickness, toughness, experience and most importantly, size.
“We knew we had some special guys coming in and we knew we had to get some special guys with them to be able to do something special,” Scheyer said of veteran transfer role players Sion James, Mason Gillis and Maliq Brown. “It’s all about having the right guys.”
UNC’s Davis is only too aware of that. If he didn’t already realize that his Tar Heels are a collection of ill-fitting parts, he does now.
It’s not even that they have too many guards and no true low post presence to speak of. That disparity would be bad enough. But it’s exaggerated by a lack of size throughout the lineup.
Especially in the backcourt.
Four of UNC’s 5 starters on Saturday were 6-4 or smaller, with the fifth – Ven-Allen Lubin – standing only 6-8. Duke, by contrast, doesn’t have a single scholarship player under 6-5, with Maluach towering over all of them, protecting the rim with his even longer wingspan.
Size might not be everything in some aspects of life. But it certainly helps in basketball.
The Blue Devils’ superior length at every position didn’t just make life difficult for the Tar Heels around the rim. It provided precious little room to operate anywhere on the floor against Scheyer’s aggressive switching defense.
Not only did Duke force 14 UNC turnovers, resulting in 19 points, it also recorded a season-high 23 deflections.
“I thought our length kind of discouraged them; stealing a lot of passes, getting a lot of deflections,” Flagg said.
If there’s any consolation for the Tar Heels over their most humbling defeat of the season it’s that they at least showed some late signs of life by outscoring the Blue Devils 25-10 over the final 9 minutes to avoid what was headed toward the largest final margin in the storied history of the rivalry.
“If you don’t have (consistent ball and player movement) against them, it’s very difficult to score because of their length,” added Davis following the loss that dropped his team even farther off the NCAA bubble at 13-10. “It’s real from 1 to 5.”
That’s an advantage the Blue Devils have over more than just the Tar Heels. It was just more pronounced because of the magnitude of the rivalry.
Not that we shouldn’t have seen it coming.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
